"Vaizey, the party’s spokesman on media and arts, said he wanted to see
Radio 1’s licence put up for auction. He said the corporation was even
more dominant than its commercial rivals in radio compared with
television, pointing to the fact that it held four out of five national
FM licences. The only exception is Classic FM. “There is an unfair
disparity,” said Vaizey in an interview with The Sunday Times. The sale
of Radio 1 would help to alleviate the imbalance. Industry experts
believe the station’s frequency could be worth at least £100m." – The Sunday Times

"The BBC should get its tanks off our lawn" – The Sunday Times attacks the BBC for forcing private companies, particularly, newspapers out of business

Anger has gone out of the arts, which suits the Tories – Nick Cohen in The Observer

"Totnes is just the start" – In the Independent on Sunday Eric Pickles explains why all postal primaries may become the norm in the Conservative Party's selection of candidates

Are the Tories serious about localisation?

"Last Thursday Theresa Villiers, Cameron’s shadow transport secretary,
condemned a plan by Nottingham city council to introduce a £250 tax on
office parking spaces. Doubtless outraged drivers will love her for it.
But the opposition has made “radical decentralisation of power” a
central plank of its programme. The local Nottingham Conservative party
may therefore condemn the council as anti-business or anti-motorist, if
it is so inclined, but shouldn’t the national spokeswoman keep clear?
Villiers’s intervention is symptomatic of a wider confusion in the
shadow cabinet. Is talk of decentralisation real or mere window
dressing?" – Martin Ivens in The Sunday Times

Liam Halligan: The Tories should reintroduce Glass-Steagall but won't

"It
isn't sensible," Mervyn King recently stated, "to allow large banks to
combine high street retail banking with risky investment banking
strategies, and then provide an implicit state guarantee". The Bank
Governor's words echoed around the world. He was calling for a return
of "Glass-Steagall" and, in doing so, was taking on the big universal
banks of Wall Street and the City… Were the Tories to take this step,
the world would notice. By leading the charge towards a new global
Glass-Steagall, an incoming Tory government could do much to restore
London's name as a centre of regulatory excellence. But it won't
happen. Today's politicians are far more interested in securing banks'
campaign donations than they are in preventing future systemic
collapse." – Liam Halligan in The Sunday Telegraph

David Willetts and universities' slack marking

"Universities
were yesterday embroiled in a furious row over dumbing down after a
parliamentary inquiry revealed the number of first-class degrees had
almost doubled in a decade. Amid the war of words, senior Tories vowed
to publish data that they claimed would reveal the true value of
degrees." – Observer

Ashcroft's funding of Tories secure for now as Labour quietly postpones law banning non-doms from funding political parties – Observer

Tory peer, Lord Taylor of Warwick claimed £70k for home that does not exist – The Sunday Times

"Today we report that Lord Taylor of Warwick, a Conservative peer,
claimed more than £70,000 in expenses between 2001 and 2007 by virtue
of having his main home outside London. That home does not appear to
exist. When confronted by our reporters he claimed he was living with
his sick mother in Birmingham and that was his main residence. However,
Lord Taylor’s mother died in 2001 and her home was sold that year.
Despite repeated requests he has refused to provide details of what he
says were “a number” of properties he occupied in the Midlands at that
time." – The Sunday Times leader

Sixty
MPs received almost £300,000 in expenses transferred directly to banks
each month without having to submit a single receipt – The Sunday Times

Cameron is NOT converting people to Conservatism – The SNP's Gordon Archer in Scotland on Sunday

Peter Mandelson reveals Labour's two new dividing lines for General Election

"He says: "The next General Election will not simply be a
referendum on the Government. In the long run-up to that election, the
public will be faced with a choice between a Government that will try
to do everything it can to protect our frontline public services, and a
Conservative Party whose appetite for deep and savage spending cuts
seems to have been well and truly whetted.

"He also reveals Labour will make Gordon Brown's attributes the
mainstay of the election campaign. He writes: "A vote for Labour at
that election will be a vote for the substance of Gordon Brown versus
the shallowness of David Cameron.""

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